Nonfiction Monday: Interview with Susan VanHecke

Today I have posted an interview with Susan VanHecke who is the author of the terrific picture book, Under The Freedom Tree. You can find more information at www.underthefreedomtree.com.

1. How did you
first learn about the Freedom Tree?

Quite accidentally, actually. I was thumbing through a
local lifestyle magazine here in southeastern Virginia when I flipped to a
photo of a truly majestic tree. The caption said that this was where area slaves
heard the Emancipation Proclamation guaranteeing their freedom in 1863, the
first Southern reading of the document, according to some historians.

The tree, Emancipation Oak, is just twelve miles from
my house; I couldn't believe I'd driven by it for years without even knowing
it! Curious, I started researching and learned the whole amazing story of the
contrabands and how they launched the beginning of slavery's end by taking
freedom into their own hands, assisting the Union, and helping the North win
the war.

2. Your use of free verse narrative is very
compelling. Why did you decide to tell the story in this way?

After researching, I tried to sit down and write the
story in prose, but it just wasn't working. Sure, I could recount the facts,
but prose just wasn't capturing the drama, the emotion, of all those bold,
daring events that happened near and under Emancipation Oak. It felt too
distant. I struggled with the manuscript for a couple of years, in fact, every
time setting it aside in frustration.

Then one day while I was reading a collection of the
late author Virginia Hamilton's speeches and essays, I ran across her concept
of "rememory." She defines this as an "exquisitely textured
recollection, real or imagined." That really struck me, both an
"imagined recollection" and one that's exquisitely textured.

I decided to make a personal visit to the tree, and
there, under those spreading branches, in the leafy light, I understood just
what Hamilton meant. I could imagine that, standing there, I was recollecting
all that had happened at the Freedom Tree, even though, of course, I wasn't
alive during the Civil War.

That opened the floodgates for me. I wrote with
feeling, hopefully with texture, and it just so happened to be in the form of
free verse poetry.

3. What is the origin of the phrase "better
forward than back"? Did you create it or did you find it in your research?

I came up with that phrase. I tried to imagine what
might have been running through Frank, James, and Shepard's minds as they
stepped into that rowboat under cover of night. What's worse: an uncertain
future rowing to the Union line or a certain future of bondage and oppression
if we remain with the Confederates? Hope on the horizon or despair if we return
to the Confederate camp? Better forward
than back seemed to sum that up well.

4. In your research, did you find out what happened to
Frank, James, and Shepard after the end of the war?

All three remained in the Hampton, Virginia, area
after the war. Frank Baker and James Townsend worked as day laborers and raised
families. Shepard Mallory eventually owned his own home, worked as a janitor,
and was married several times. Interestingly, one of his weddings was attended
by Confederate Colonel Charles Mallory, his former master!

5. Were you able to visit the Freedom Tree site? What
impressions did you come away with?

Emancipation Oak still stands today at the entrance to
Hampton University. It's a grand old tree, with branches that sprawl over a
hundred feet in diameter. The National Geographic Society has honored it as one
of the Ten Great Trees of the World. If you ever have an opportunity to visit
it, I highly recommend it. Or you can visit it virtually at http://underthefreedomtree.com/video.html.

Interesting note about Emancipation Oak. I learned
that it was in the same waters where Frank, James, and Shepard reached the
Union line—just two miles from the tree—that the first Africans were brought to
the English colonies in 1619. We can imagine that the Freedom Tree was probably
a newly sprouted acorn when those first Africans arrived for the purpose of
slavery. But like the slaves' determination and quest for liberty over the
centuries, the Freedom Tree grew strong and mighty, and is still an inspiration
for us all.

Thanks so much for sharing the book, Jeff! I hope teachers will enjoy using it in the classroom. There are several teacher resources at www.underthefreedomtree.com, including a Common Core-aligned Educator's Guide with pre- and post-reading questions, sequencing and matching manipulatives, and storytelling activities, and a Readers Theater script. Thanks again!

Wow! This is a wonderful interview with very insightful questions and answers! Thank you so much for sharing it at Booknificent Thursday! I'm pinning it to our new board! http://www.pinterest.com/mommynificent/great-book-reviews/Tina